Marijuana Prohibition Costs Over $7 Billion Annually

A recent report by BBSNews editor Michael Hess has estimated the total annual cost of marijuana prohibition to be over $7 billion dollars. This detailed report analyzes just how this money (your money) is being spent at the state and federal levels.

Below is an excerpt from Michael's report as well as a list we have compiled of better ways we could be spending this money. Click here to read the full report.

Current Felony Marijuana Inmates in the US Tops 135,000

BBSNews 2002-12-22 -- So often in drug policy a germ of an idea starts with one regular person, and one public official or another at the other end of the spectrum who could actually make positive policy changes happen.

In this case a USENET poster named Dave recently wanted to know how many people are really behind bars for marijuana offenses in the United States? And on the other end are public officials such as DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson who claimed on CNN's Crossfire "What I'm saying is that obviously it's another myth that we're locking up all the [marijuana] users and they're filling up our prisons. That's not the case. You still have to work pretty hard to get into prison for drug use today."(aa)

This report, the first of two parts, illustrates how such a claim is not very believable. If one wanted to take all currently incarcerated felony marijuana offenders to a ball game they could fill two large sports stadiums. For instance, the Texas Stadium which houses the Dallas Cowboys and Ford Field, which hosts the Detroit Lions at 65,846 and 65,000 respectively.(ab) (Chart-1) To treat just the prisoners currently behind bars for felony possession only to a ball game you could fill all 50,000 seats at Trice Field, home of the Iowa State Cyclones.(ac)

Key Findings in this Analysis:

• It Costs Over $7 Billion Annually to Fund U.S. Marijuana Prohibition(*)
• Nearly Three Quarters of a Million Marijuana Arrests Occur Each Year
• $4.2 Billion in Lost Productivity Wasted by Locking Them Up
• 135,488 are Currently Behind Bars for Felony Marijuana Offenses
• $2 Billion Annually to House Them
• 20,000 Defendants Locked Up Awaiting Trial for Felony Marijuana Charges
• It Cost About $85 Million to House Them
• $2 Billion Likely Cost for Marijuana Arrests Since 1998
• An Estimated $257 Million Spent on Probation Costs From 1998-2001
  (*) - Costs do not include disposition of misdemeanor marijuana cases.

What Else Could We Do With $7 Billion Dollars?

With $7 billion dollars we could . . .

• . . .give every single one of our country's hard working public school teachers a raise of about $2340
  
  
• . . .increase the public education budget by about 2%
  
  
• . . .provide health insurance to about 15 of the 43 million uninsured people in the United States
  
  
• . . .lower our $300 billion dollar national deficit by about 2.3%
  
  
• . . .provide a school lunch to more than 25 million underprivileged children

What Can I Do About It?

Their are many ways you can help bring an end to this enormous waste of our tax dollars. One of the best ways to help is to send your state and federal politicans a letter that lets them know how you feel about this important issue. Thanks to the Marijuana Policy Project you can send your state and federal elected officials a letter right from your computer! Click here to get started.